Sitting Pretty : Recaro at Tokyo Auto Salon 2009

At 2009's TAS (Tokyo Auto Salon), Recaro's chic booth was a good example of the premium upmarket direction the brand is heading towards, which places an emphasis on individual customisation versus the usual off-the-rack applications.

This was the sight that greeted visitors to the Recaro booth; an evolution of the sports seat through the years, starting with the first 'bucket' seat for Porsche to today's Sportster.



Black and Greys were the dominant themes, but vibrant splashes of colours could be appreciated in the experimental colour/material/stitch combinations that adorned part of the Sportster collection, as well as the stark Red that clad the latest SR-7 and some of its 'dead' bucket seat collection.



Compared to the haphazard manner in which other brands have chosen to display their wares, there is some order to Recaro's configuration, with the sports bucket seats positioned in the inner quarter, while the outer quarter showcased the reclining seats, which included seats like the Magnifica, SP-X, Sportster, Sport JC, SR-6, as well as the latest SR-7 and a 'hybrid' c/f reclining seat that was created for the Nissan GT-R Spec V.



Picture above best illustrates the difference between the TS-G (Red) and the RS-G (Blue-black). The TS-G has a pronounced curved back whereas the RS-G has a straight back.


L-R: SP-X, Sport-JC, Sportster, Sportster (experimental), Sportster (experimental)

Visitors were more than welcome to plonk their behinds into the seats on display and there was a helpful information stand next to every seat for the show-goers to read off as they were comfortably seated.



The SR-7 is the latest seat to join the Recaro collection of reclining seats, although these are still pre-production examples. Some people mistakenly think this is intended to succeed the SR-6, but as of last month, the SR-7 was and is intended to be a replacement to the vintage SR-4 (which is still popular among many buyers even today).

Unlike the rather sharp-edged styling SR-6 or even the Ninja Turtle inspired SR-11 (Evo X seat), the SR-7 takes a leaf from the past and boasts gorgeous organic contours that are intended to resemble the voluptuous feminine form.





These are the standard seats found in the Nissan GT-R Spec V (Yes for the last time it's Spec V, not V-Spec. Developed specially for Nissan, this is another iteration of the reclining carbon-fibre seat that was available as a Nismo Clubsport upgrade for the standard GT-R. Note the different embroidery: Spec V seats say 'GT-R', while the Nismo Clubsport seat upgrades say 'Nismo' and have that 'crotch support' padding.